The Trustees of Sch. of Town 21 N. v. the Sch. Directors of Union Dist..

• Decision Date: 31 January 1878
• Citation: 88 Ill. 100,1878 WL 9814
• Parties: THE TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS OF TOWN 21 N., RANGE 5 W.,v.THE SCHOOL DIRECTORS OF UNION DISTRICT.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

88 Ill. 100

1878 WL 9814 (Ill.)

THE TRUSTEES OF SCHOOLS OF TOWN 21 N., RANGE 5 W.,

v.THE SCHOOL DIRECTORS OF UNION DISTRICT.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

January Term, 1878.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Mason county; the Hon. LYMAN LACEY, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. DEARBORN & CAMPBELL, for the appellants.

Messrs. FULLERTON & WALLACE, for the appellees. Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE SCHOLFIELD delivered the opinion of the Court:

The only question we deem it necessary to consider in the present case is, whether appellee should be held to be barred from inquiring into the validity of the act of detaching territory from the one school district and adding it to the other, by reason of the laches in suing out the certiorari.

The writ of certiorari, when used for the purpose of correcting the proceedings of inferior tribunals, is not a writ of right, but it issues only upon application to the court, upon special cause shown. Bath Bridge Co. v. Magonn, 8 Greenleaf, 293; Drowne v. Stimpson, 2 Mass. 44; Lee v. Childs, 17 Id. 352; Huse v. Gaines, 2 N. H. 210; Munroe v. Baker, 6 Cowen, 396; People v. Supervisors, 15 Wend. 198; State v. Leutf, 2 Hill, 367; Rockingham v. Westminster, 24 Vt. 288. And the reason is said to be, because these bodies exercise powers in which the people at large are concerned, and great public detriment or inconvenience might result from interfering with their proceedings. People v. Supervisors, supra. As a corollary it follows, that whenever great public detriment or inconvenience might result from interfering with their proceedings, the writ of certiorari should be denied. And, on this principle, in Elmendorf v. Mayor, etc. 25 Wend. 693, the Supreme Court of New York refused a certiorari to remove the proceedings of the common council of New York, changing the grade of certain streets, three years and a half after the confirmation. It is true, in that State a writ of error would not lie, under the statute, after the expiration of two years, and it was said the court would, by analogy to the statute, in ordinary cases, refuse a certiorari after the lapse of that period; but the decision was placed expressly upon the ground that there had been unreasonable delay, and that serious consequences to the city must result from allowing the writ. NELSON, Ch. J., who delivered the opinion of the court, said: “I place my refusal to allow the certiorari upon the unreasonable delay in the application for it, and the serious consequences to the city which must necessarily follow the granting of it after such a lapse of time, during which the improvement has been finished, and two-thirds of the assessment paid by owners.” This principle is also recognized and applied in Rutland v. County Com'rs, etc. 20 Pickering, 79, 80; In re Lantis et al. 9 Mich. 324; Chamberlain v. Berclay, 13 N. J. L. (1 Greene) 244; Bell v. Overseers, 14 Id. 131; Dailey v. Bertholomew, 1 Ashmead, 135.

It is not questioned but that there was power to detach territory from the one district and add it to the other; but it is only objected that the power had not been exercised by the proper officers in the mode prescribed by the statute. It would, therefore, seem very clear, that the omission complained of is one that would have been supplied by a subsequent express ratification of the act, and, if this be...